


The Real Deal

by FettsOnTop (GTFF)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/M, Leia as Boushh, Past Leia Organa/Han Solo, Prompt Fill, ROTJ flashback, post Mando s2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 02:35:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30082197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GTFF/pseuds/FettsOnTop
Summary: A prompt asked me to imagine Leia using the Boushh costume to find out if the Boba Fett shaking things up on Tatooine is the same Boba Fett she knew and yes, thank you, I can imagine that.
Relationships: Boba Fett/Leia Organa
Comments: 11
Kudos: 80





	The Real Deal

“Look, I don’t know what more I can tell you. He said his name was Boba Fett.” Cara Dune’s voice was soft and a little tense. Leia didn’t blame her for being nervous. An outer rim marshal being summoned to a command ship would normally proceed some kind of disciplinary action. 

Leia flipped a switch on the holoprojector and the image of a firespray-class ship appeared. “Yeah,” the marshal confirmed. “That’s the ship.” Another switch revealed an image of a man in battered Mandalorian armor. She leaned closer to the projector. “Nnnh. It’s not the same. Different colors. And he doesn’t wear a flightsuit under it.”

“It can’t be the same Boba Fett,” Luke reasoned. “The sarlacc swallowed him whole.”

“I’m not saying it is or isn’t,” Cara Dune replied evenly. “But I’ve seen this guy with his helmet off, and something terrible happened to him. If you told me he was chewed on by a sarlacc I wouldn’t blink.”

“Thank you, Marshal Dune.” Leia stood as she spoke. “Speak with Commander Elrith outside. He’ll call a shuttle to take you back to Nevarro.”

She hesitated at the door. “I don’t know if he’s the same Boba Fett you knew. But I know Mando trusts him, and that’s worth a lot to me.”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Luke assured her. As soon as she was gone he folded his arms, tucking his hands into the sleeves of his long jedi robe. “Is it better or worse for us if it’s the same guy?”

“I don’t know, but Tatooine has become too important. Someone has to go meet with him.”

“What does Han think about all this?”

Leia looked away. “I haven’t spoken with him recently.”

“Sorry.” Luke’s voice dropped low in sympathy. “How’s Ben taking it?”

“As well as can be expected.”

“I’ll go.” He gestured at holo images. “I’m sure this brings back memories.”

“It does.” Leia took a breath. “But I have to go. I know how to find out if he’s the same Boba Fett.”

* * *

The hardest thing to get used to was the helmet. The other clothing and light armor worn by the Ubanese bounty hunter fit Leia quite well. She could move around comfortably and more importantly, _without notice_. 

The day she wore it to Jabba’s palace was the first time she wanted to be noticed in it. Chewie made sure that she was. It wasn’t until after she put the thermal detonator away that she saw Boba Fett. He tilted his helmet in a slow, deliberate nod and suddenly being noticed seemed like a terrible idea. 

The fact that she was 35 thousand credits richer was not lost on anyone in the throne room. She was offered everything under the stars from sex to drugs to part ownership in an aurodium mine. A spice-dealing Dug followed her around for almost an hour no matter how many times she swung her staff at him. He could sell her the best stuff, he claimed. Pure spice. The real deal. 

An armored arm entered her peripheral vision and a blast of fire forced the dealer to scramble back, cursing in Huttese. She turned around to face Boba Fett, a walking threat in scarred armor. “He cuts his spice with filanium,” he said matter-of-factly as the dealer scuttled away. “Nothing you can get here is real.”

“What do you want?” She asked, relying on the voice scrambler to make her voice sound like the voice of Boushh. 

“I want to know how you caught Chewbacca.”

Her mind raced as she tried to calculate her response. How would Boushh respond? “Why? So you can steal my tricks?”

“You think I need your tricks?” His tone was mocking, even through his helmet. “I brought in Captain Solo. What happened to the princess?”

There was a terrible roar in her ears. She could hardly hear herself speak. “What?” 

“The last time I saw the wookiee, Solo told him to take care of the princess. Wookiees take that kind of thing seriously. It must have been difficult to separate them.”

Leia wanted nothing as much as she wanted to be able to see past Fett’s inscrutable visor. “It was not difficult for me.” She added for good measure, “so the princess has lost both of her protectors.”

“Can’t speak for the wookiee, but Solo needs her protection more than she needs his.”

“Why do you say that?”

“She’s too smart for him. Maybe now she’ll realize it.”

As suspicious as she was of Fett’s motivations, she had to fight the urge to defend herself and Han. “Some do not let go so easily.”

Fett snorted. “She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. She’ll be fine without him.” His helmet turned, following Bib Fortuna as the majordomo passed by. “What did he give you? A marker?”

“Yes.”

“I’m still waiting for Jabba to cash out mine. Hang on to that thermal detonator. You might need it.” He took a step to one side and walked past her, leaving her to weigh his words with a hammering pulse. 

Soon afterwards she was exposed as a fraud and forced to become a tasteless display for Jabba and his minions. Fett never said a word to her while she was chained to Jabba’s dais, but he also never strayed far.

There were times when the braver creeps would sneak closer. Sometimes they would tug on her chain when Jabba was distracted. But there always came a moment when they looked beyond her and suddenly and swiftly backed away. 

Even years later when she thought about their brief exchange in the throne room, she couldn’t say with certainty. Was it a warning? Did he know?

* * *

It didn’t take long to find him. She caught a glimpse of his dark green armor outside the spaceport in Mos Espa and followed him at a careful distance. Once again in the guise of Boushh, Leia was invisible. The helmet still took some getting used to. She cut through an alley and nearly crashed her head into a rack of metal utensils hanging above a vendor’s stand. 

The jetpack certainly looked familiar. It was the same style of Mandalorian armor, but with a darker color scheme. His build was thicker, his gait heavier. He walked like a man with nothing to fear. 

How he ended up as the regent of Tatooine was a subject of some debate. There was a power vacuum after Jabba’s death, and portions of the world were held by warring gangs and factions every bit as corrupt as the Hutt cartel. Now a man called Boba Fett controlled it all. The rapid consolidation of power was impossible for the New Republic to ignore. The only question that remained was whether this new leadership would be a friend or a foe. 

The suns of Tatooine were beginning to drop low on the horizon, and the citizens of Mos Espa were returning to their homes. That made it more difficult for Leia to hide in the crowd. She kept to the shadows as much as she could, trying to guess where he was headed. Was he bound for Jabba’s palace, or did he have another destination in mind?

He made a sudden turn, down an alley below a flashing sign. Leia paused to work out the Huttese. 

A brothel. Interesting. 

She turned the corner and there was no sign of him. Maybe there was a side entrance?

A pair of gloved hands caught her bandoleer and nearly lifted her off the ground. She swiftly turned her staff, grasping it both hands and bracing it against the throat of the man who was now holding her against the wall.

“Well look at that,” he said in a raspy voice that, like the rest of him, was both familiar and different. He released her and stepped back as much as the narrow alley will allow. “If it isn’t the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

Leia set her staff against the wall and pulled the helmet off her head, drawing in a gulp of unfiltered air before she spoke. “It really is you.”

Boba Fett removed his own helmet. The light was swiftly fading from the sky, but the flashing brothel sign provided enough light for her to see the scars. “What’s left of me.”

Leia had no comparison, having never seen his face before. But even scarred and worn he was a handsome man. “You look pretty good for a dead man.”

“Thank you. You look exactly the same.”

“I’m supposed to be flattering you, not the other way around.”

One hairless brow lifted in a challenge. “Go on, then.”

She leaned back against the wall and pursed her lips in exaggerated thought. “I like your face. It’s nice to be able to finally see it.”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “Consider me flattered.”

She should turn the conversation to business now. Pleasantry and then diplomacy. But she couldn’t resist. “There’s something I’ve always wanted to ask you.”

“What’s that?”

“In the palace, when you approached me…” she gestured at the helmet in her hand. “Did you know who I was?”

“No.” He said it without hesitation, but with a hint of chagrin. “I felt like a real idiot, in case you were wondering.”

“So you meant what you said. About me. And...Han.”

“Every word. It’s still true, as far as I’m concerned.” He paused, turning his helmet in his hands. “You’re here on business I imagine.”

“Politics. The usual.” Her eyes dropped briefly before returning to his. "I think I will be, you know. Fine without him."

"Good." He held her gaze for a moment before he replaced his helmet. “Business first," he said, motioning for her exit the alley before him. "And then dinner?”  
  



End file.
